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Too tedious, boring for Morse; avoid becoming another Ashville

By: Letters

August 18, 2013Updated: August 18, 2013 at 11:12 am

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Colorado State Senator John Morse has been going door to door every afternoon to try to build support for the upcoming recall election on Sept. 10. He talks to a man through his front door who said he would give him his support on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

John Morse was walking door to door and said, "It's tedious. It's boring But it works." Sounds like he has no other reason to be bothered with talking to people in his district. After all, this is the same person who held a town hall meeting by telephone.

I was out walking door to door yesterday too, because I called Bernie Herpin and asked if he would allow me to walk for him. My experience was enjoyable. Great people, great conversations. I talked to people concerned with the tax increases that John Morse voted for and seniors who lost the benefit from the homestead property tax reduction. Why do I want to do this? I am a retired deputy sheriff and ashamed that Morse misrepresents himself and wears a police uniform in his political ads. He is no friend to law enforcement, nor to children who have been sexually assaulted. He voted to kill a bill that would have increased sentences for those who commit sex offenses against children.

Have you been a victim of identity theft? He would like that to be a misdemeanor. Pay a fine, no problem, while the victim may owe thousands and take a few years to repair the damage.

I live in Morse's district and long ago made a call to him on a problem. Never heard back. Too tedious/boring for him?

Teri Goodall, Colorado Spring

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More money to a failed system

Well, lookee here at the latest education tax: All the education flunkies have to do is mention a new tax for the children and we have people who will jump to vote for it no matter how massive, silly or wasteful it gets.

It's time for Gov. John Hickenlooper to pay off the union people who contributed to his campaign by signing a new massive education tax into law and if history proves anything it's that the kids will never benefit by it, much less see it.

So many of these kids come out of school with substandard skills in reading and math, a total ignorance of history, never having even a passing acquaintance with the Constitution or governmental departments, strangers to economics, business sense or anything else they may need. But hey, if they are ignorant of these things they are so much easier to manipulate politically as they will never have the sense to question real problems in society.

So by all means lets give more money to a failed system that can't even stand accountability while the private schools and home schoolers seem to get it done without those billion dollar tax hikes. We should always, always pay for failure. It feels good and after all it's for the kiddies.

Donna T. Hartley, Black Forest

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Let's clear our minds for new ideas

I would like to live in a city that prioritizes the solutions to its infrastructure problems (stormwater and roads infrastructure) first before replicating tourism projects.

And speaking of projects, I suggest the following possibilities:

- Build Elon Musk's Hyperloop (ET3-Longmont) between Colorado Springs and Denver. It will not only allow us to get to Denver and DIA in less than 15 minutes but will be a serious tourist draw.

- Create the Colorado Springs Fiber Optic Utility - the city controls the infrastructure (speed and access to all residents), while Verizon/ATT/CenturyLink/Comcast provides the service.

Every voter/taxpayer should get their own email account from the city.

- Support UCCS funding of big data-mining" curriculums (to help process data at the data warehouses ... see above)

- Tented (think "DIA terminal") aircraft maintenance facility, wide enough for three 787s, with a state-of-the-art EMI aircraft inspection service. All bays for rent. We have the space and we have the necessary length of runway.

- A+ computer training as a requirement of high school graduation and 3-D printers in all schools.

Colorado Springs will never be a manufacturing city, per se. But the face of manufacturing is changing, and that will require a new definition, one in which technology is prominent.

Technologies require an educated workforce, educated in technology. Let's clear our minds and start with web searches of each of these ideas.

William 'Bill' Murray, Colorado Springs

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Avoid becoming another Asheville

I spent last weekend in Asheville, N.C., for my nephew's wedding. Asheville used to be a quaint and idyllic resort community. Over years the city has been lax in enforcing its drug laws and as a result, the city center is populated with people who are high, boisterous, disheveled, and generally a nuisance to tourists and shop owners.

The smell of marijuana lingers on the sidewalks. It has become an undesirable scene and the community is suffering because of it.

It is this very scene that one can foresee if recreational marijuana becomes legal in Colorado Springs. I've seen this in other cities (mainly in Europe) and it's to be avoided if a community is to thrive.

On behalf of our long-term future, I encourage the City Council to continue to resist the pressure from the pro-marijuana users. It is known that youth who engage in the use of marijuana incur a long-term deleterious effect on their health.

The environment in Asheville reveals that it also has a very negative effect on communities. Surely our citizens want to avoid becoming another Asheville.